Baby Hair: For Gabby, Blue Ivy & Me. Blue Ivy, last week, post-play All blackgirls have a hairstory.
Womanism, Black Feminism, and Race in Feminist Discourse. Back in May I posted an essay list with some of my essays specifically on womanism, Black feminism and race in feminist discourse, though just about anything I write is shaped by a womanist lens and an intersectional world view/experiences.
I’ve since written more essays within this theme, so here’s an updated essay list. Essays: Answers to Asks/Tweet-Related Posts: sex work, sex positive feminism and inclusion of sex worker feminism in womanism [X]White feminists patting themselves on the back for *finally* recognizing Black women’s humanity [X]solidarity with non-Black women of colour [X] [X] [X] [X]word origins: womanism, intersectionality, matrix of domination, misogynoir [X]some celebrity Black women with womanist politics [X]racist language in White feminist propaganda [X]writing Black characters and on being an ally [X]educating others on racism and safety as a Black woman [X] [X]
When White Women Cry. Eminism.org. MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT! Now picture this: me screaming the above.
Angry. VERY ANGRY as a matter of fact. Screaming this at my computer screen. Screaming it at nobody and everybody. At you. And here’s the thing: while I am screaming at you, I am also asking, nay, DEMANDING that you scream with me. This past week I’ve been screaming this a lot. Layer one of this week’s shit puff pastry My anger was inaugurated with a simple photograph. Layer two of this week’s shit puff pastry After this photo made the rounds in some online blogs and magazines, it ended up posted in Slut Walk New York’s very own Facebook page. And then something else happened: the whole thread was deleted. Layer three of this week’s shit puff pastry I am not supposed to be angry at any of the above. The point is there is strength in numbers. MY FEMINISM WILL BE INTERSECTIONAL OR IT WILL BE BULLSHIT! See? But after the debacle with the racial discussions, I no longer feel the same way.
Reclaiming the Round Belly as a Marker of Beauty by Sharanya Manivannan - [Bilan] We are socialized into adhering to pre-existing dominant beauty standards, often without questioning who is defining and what are the consequences of conforming.
That is why the desire to resist and even more importantly to choose our own standards is agentive and empowering. Here Sharanya Manivannan shares her wonderful essay ‘Belly Beautiful’ originally published in Kindle Magazine in India and her thoughts surrounding the political and social context in India that makes writing, especially women writing about their bodies particularly important. On Black Men Showing Up for Black Women at the Scene of the Crime.
Two nights ago I showed up to the Brecht Forum in Brooklyn ready to have a conversation about what we mean when we say “ally, privilege, and comrade.”
I showed up to have that discussion after months of battle testing around these issues in my own crew. Over these months I’ve learned that it is far easier to be just to the people we don’t know than the people we do know. So there I sat on a panel with a white woman and a Black man. As a Black feminist, I never quite know how political discussions will go down with either of these groups.
Still I’m a fierce lover of Black people and a fierce defender of women. The brother shared his thoughts about the need to “liberate all Black people.” In a word, I was tired. I shared that. This brother was not having it. But I’m grown. I got cut off, yelled at, screamed on. Damn. I waited for anyone to stand up, to sense that I felt afraid, to stop him, to let him know his actions were unacceptable.
Then an older Black gentleman did stand up. Why? Aphra Behn. Aphra Behn, one of the most influential dramatists of the late seventeenth century, was also a celebrated poet and novelist.
Her contemporary reputation was founded primarily on her "scandalous" plays, which she claimed would not have been criticized for impropriety had a man written them. Behn's assertion of her unique role in English literary history is confirmed not only by the extraordinary circumstances of her writings, but by those of her life history as well. No one really knows her birth name or when exactly she was born. Her parentage has been traced to Wye, and tradition has it that she was born in 1640.
One version of her life postulates that her parents were a barber, John Amis, and Amy, his wife. When her husband died, Behn was left without funds. Even before her arrest for indebtedness Aphra Behn had written poetry. Behn's contemporary reputation as a poet was no less stunning than her notoriety as a dramatist. One evening Lysander comes across Cloris in the woods. Don’t You Realize Fat Is Unhealthy? Here’s the thing: I blog about fat acceptance.
Fat acceptance, as you can probably guess from the words “fat” and “acceptance” being right together like that, does not go over so well in some circles. Even in some progressive circles — which are usually known for not hating entire groups of people because of their appearances, not thinking what other people do with their bodies is anybody’s beeswax, and not uncritically accepting whatever moral panic the media tries to whip up, but wev. Fat is different! Women, feminism, and geek culture.